Beautiful Sniper, Beautiful Target
by Cup of Violet Tea
Summary: A trained shooter devoted to eliminating heartless criminals. A trainee agent dedicated to protecting caring philanthropists. Both are fighting for the same cause yet have to abolish each other to achieve it, but it won't be easy...because getting rid of someone close you know from your past won't be easy.
1. The Beginning of a New Threat

**This my 3rd story and first try on POVs, longer chapters, and crime! Most crime fanfics I see are about spies, mostly secretive organizations_._ I'm using legitimate _and_ legal spies, like government-issued agents and other indirect relationships. ****I do have the concept of two organizations working against each other, but at the same time, they're trying to achieve the same cause. Hence the summary and chapter.**

**My original intention was a one-sided story from the police people's POV. A lot of crime dramas inspired me, such as CSI, NCIS, NIKITA, Criminal Minds, and whatever. American dramas mainly, but there's this Chinese Drama called Split Second that intrigued me a lot because of a _subplot_. I don't usually get inspired that way.**

**Oh well. School starts on Monday, and I wanted to work on this before I get busy again. ****As for the POVs, I simply wanted to try something new. I don't own any of those shows or Bakugan.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Beginning of a New Threat**

**-x-**

**No one's POV**

"Welcome to our 25th Annual Charity Fundraiser Dinner!"

The announcer's voice echoed loudly through the ballroom as guests applauded. Everyone then continued what they were doing: dancing, eating, drinking, and chatting. It was impossible for anyone to _not_ have a good time here. Moments later, the host of the charity dinner walked onstage and gave a speech.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! I am Zenoheld, as you all might remember from previous charity dinners. Tonight, all I want to say is that I thank you all greatly for being here. Thank you for supporting our company in its efforts to raise money for charity. Let me introduce who the first organization to receive a check of $500,000 is!"

A man in his 50's walked up the stage and received the giant check. "And that would be St. Kristen's Children's Hospital. Give a loud round of applause to Dr. Samuel Green for working so hard to improve this hospital! Time for the second check!"

As the doctor walked down the stage, a woman in her 30's came up after. "This check goes to Ms. Yukari Kudou for maintaining Light Hope Orphanage so well. Another round of appla-"

Glass just shattered.

"Everyone! Please duck and cover!" the announcer ordered. "We have an intruder!"

People screamed and wailed as they ran under tables for cover. More windows shattered, and everyone was afraid that were more than one intruder.

Then the lights flickered.

"Does anyone have an idea of what's going on?" Zenoheld demanded. "This has never happened before during anyone of my charity dinners. Security, find our intruder or intruders immediately!"

"Copy!"

That was a bad decision Zenoheld made, though. At exactly when the security guards left the ballroom, the lights completely went off, and the entire room was dark, other than like reflecting off the glassware. "Who's there? I demand you show yourself this instant!" No voice responded, but a gunshot echoed instead, and a bullet flew right into his chest.

The lights came back on, and the guests came out from under the tables. All of them were shocked to see the host lying on the stage in a pool of his own blood. The security guards came back without luck and saw the tragedy. "Somebody call an ambulance!"

Before anyone moved, another gunshot echoed. This time, the bullet hit the wall of the stage, pinning down a piece of paper.

**This is only just the beginning,** said the paper in fancy cursive. **Watch yourselves.**

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Shun's POV**

The first thing I saw on TV was a news report of last night's shooting.

"Thank goodness he gave away the checks in time."

I fixed my seat on the sofa and turned around to see Dan making a messy peanut butter and jelly sandwich on _my_ kitchen counter. "What checks?" Honestly, I was in no mood to lecture Dan about food sanitation right now. He always stops by my apartment flat every morning to make breakfast for _himself._

"You know, Zenoheld? That rich guy who donated money to non-profit organizations? Last night, he held this 25th annual charity dinner at the Genevieve Hotel in the ballroom, and an intruder shot him to death. Just watch the screen."

I turned back and watched the TV. The reporters aired the entire crime scene out to the public, from the broken windows to the bloody stage. I'm used to seeing bloody scenes, but the diameter was so disturbing. Did a person really have that much blood?

Dan turned up the volume, and I didn't want to imagine how sticky the remote could be now. "The police don't have any suspects in custody yet," said the reporter. "However, they do believe this shooting is related to the various other sniper shootings that happened over the past months, but the some victims may not be related in any way. The crime rate may have dropped, but these shootings are spiking a new high."

The commercials came up, and I went to kitchen. "It's unbelievable that someone has the courage and skill to do this. You wouldn't even dare snipe anyone if ordered to, Dan."

"How would you know? I've never been a sniper before." He microwaved his sandwich, and I groaned at the thought of having to clean the microwave later. "I bet you wouldn't be able to snipe, either."

"I've sniped foxes and other game when my foster mother took me out on fox hunts."

"Oh. _Fox_ hunts. With your _foster_ mother. Yeah, whatever. Those aren't human."

"But they're live targets." I wringed a towel dry and cleaned the jelly stains. "Do you think Spectra will let us in on this case?"

"You mean investigating Zenoheld's death? That's something that the local police can handle. I know the top level DATA agents are undercover as bodyguards for many of these generous people and doing their best, but trainees like us don't need to get involved. "

"_Interns_, Dan. We're interns."

Dan and I both have been working for the nation's DATA—the Domestic Anti-Terrorism Agency—since we were teenage trainees at a police academy and were recently but 'unofficially' raised to interns. Dan lacked the skills to even be a trainee, nevertheless intern, and I constantly worried about whether or not he'll catch up with the others.

Also because we work for DATA, we don't always have a case to handle unlike the local police who are the first responders. That's why we're here doing nothing. Typical missions and cases for _us_ were to provide protection for famous local politicians, philanthropists, etc. There were other odd jobs that Spectra appointed Dan and me to, but I don't really care about those.

The commercials were over, and I watched the news again. "I don't like the looks of this."

"Me neither." Dan replied.

The report spoke again. "Experts say that this mysterious sniper is targeting many people and areas in Bayview, from yesterday's hotel to even school districts. Only one or two people get shot, and the rest of the people are perfectly fine. Here's a list of places that are possible comfort zones for this sniper."

As I watched groups of words float across the screen, Dan received a phone call. "Hello sir. Yes, I'm at Shun's. What is—I'm very sorry, sir! I'll never do that again. At nine-thirty? Yes, we'll be there. Thank you very much, sir. I'll never do that again."

After hearing the sudden change in Dan's speech, I chuckled and turned around. "Did Spectra _finally _tell you not to come here and make breakfast again?"

"How did you know it was him and that exact topic?"

"It's a matter of sooner or later. We-" The last place popping up on the screen had me frozen. I couldn't believe my eyes. "Not that place..."

"What place?"

"The orphanage."

"Oh. No wonder Spectra called us over. I do miss those days." Dan got all nostalgic, but I held my worries in. "Didn't Zenoheld donate a check to that place last night?"

"That's what the news says. You know, we'll never get anyone as good as him to support that orphanage. I really want to catch the guy who killed him."

"Me too, but unless Spectra's calling us in to assist with this case, I doubt we'll even be able to _talk_ about it to the others. Weren't you at the orphanage the other day? How's the director doing?"

In addition to going to school and working together, Dan and I grew up together for a couple of years in Light Hope orphanage. Luckily, our adopted parents lived close by, so we often see each other. Seeing that place as a possible target for the sniper had me worried sick. I don't want the place where I spent half my childhood years to be destroyed, but it's very unlikely that places like this will enter the list of people and places Spectra ordered us to monitor.

"Just fine, but arthritis isn't making her job any better."

"That's sad." he sighed. "Kudou-san was the best woman other than my adopted mother in the world."

"Yeah, you're right." I looked at the clock. "Spectra wants us to meet in the meeting room at nine-thirty?"

"Yup. Maybe it's about this case."

I turned off the TV and packed my stuff. "Let's go."

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Alice's POV**

"This is _boring_."

I looked up and saw Ace change channels every second with that remote. I kept looking down at my cleaning supplies, but the flicker of the screen was too distracting. "Ace, will you stop it?! You're going to break my new LED television if you keep doing that."

"And if it breaks, then you've been ripped off."

"You're helpless _and_ hopeless." As I sprayed some bleach onto a white rag to clean suppressors, Mira walked in the glass door of my house from the backyard with a basket of strawberries. "Careful! Dangerous chemicals alert."

"My bad! I'll go the other way." She walked around my work table to the kitchen sink. "Ace, stop right there. Isn't that last night's shooting?"

"Where?!" He literally jumped up from the swivel chair. "Sorry. It says Zenoheld only announced two major donation checks before he got shot." Ace turned his head over slowly and stared at me. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"It _was_ you! Not to mention, the note the sniper left behind are making a lot of people nervous. The cursive is creeping me out, and who has the creepiest writing among all us?"

"Ace, just because you can't read my cursive writing whenever I write you birthday cards does not mean I wrote that note. Sure, maybe I was there, but—excuse me. What is _that_?" All three of us fixed our eyes on the next news report. The one about the shooting went by quickly and was replaced with one about money laundering scams.

Mira ate a strawberry and shook her head. "And to think we got rid of the guy who started one of those scams. Oh, Alice. The doctor called about an hour ago. He said he wants you to finish cleaning the weapons by today's lab experiment time."

I turned around and looked at Mira weirdly. "Before an experiment? They're totally unrelated."

"Maybe he's testing out some new weapons or modifying some. He won't tell _me_ a thing, you know."

"True. You're not me."

Mira was talking about my grandfather, Dr. Michael Gehabich. He wasn't my biological guardian, but was just as close as one. Grandfather had a son and daughter-in-law—my foster parents—but they died in a mob shooting years ago. He used to work for the national government's intelligence agency IATA as a field agent, but now he's strictly a lab technician who works behind-the-scenes. All the young people got promoted, but Grandfather's too old for that now, so it's a win-win for him and the agency.

In addition to being a lab tech, he also teaches understudies—college students, enthusiasts, and even intelligence agents—engineering and mechanics. Last but not least, he's also given a list of the government's worst criminals and fugitives and told to eliminate them. Or at least find and capture them. Most of them get KIA, but no one really cares whether they come back dead or alive. That was a different story, and I just followed his footsteps and learned how to create some of my own weapons. But I often come along elimination missions for the fun of it.

And what I mean by 'fun' isn't fun at all.

"Why the hell would anyone want to scam a _children's_ hospital?" Ace blurted. "And the police are actually _protecting_ this guy?!" Mira and I looked at the screen and saw a list of place names scroll across the screen. "These are _all_ the places that _one_ person scammed? And he works _alone_ too! This isn't suspect custody we're talking about."

The second-to-last part was redundant, but I bit my lip after seeing the long list of names, especially the penultimate one: St. Kristen's Children Hospital. "Oh God. Isn't that the hospital that cured you of your polio, Alice?" Mira asked.

I accidentally broke the trigger of a rifle.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I-"

"No harm done."

When I was younger, I spent half of my childhood years St. Kristen's recovering from polio. I never questioned how I got it. Maybe my biological mother abandoned me before I got fully vaccinated and caused all this. It wasn't until my foster parents wanted to adopt a child that they found me and sponsored the hospital a lot of money to not only find a cure for me, but also the other patients. Once I was fully healed, I lived with them in their house until that mob shooting took them away.

I'll never forget that place, despite the horrors of the treatment.

"Hey guys, you want to come with me to me grandfather's lab? You'll get to see all the high-tech things that he and his assistants spend time around."

"We can?!" Ace and Mira cheered. "Thank you so much, Alice! You're responsible for everything, right?"

"I'll try."

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Shun's POV**

"...Vallory?"

"Here!"

"Leltoy?"

"Present!"

"Kuso?"

"Ee-ten-guh-sun-do-wich."

"Please don't talk with your mouth full. Kazami?"

"..."

"Shun Kazami! Are you here?!"

I totally missed out on Spectra calling my name. "Sorry sir. Present!"

Spectra put down his clipboard and walked over to me. I knew where he was going with this. "If you don't want to be here, fine. You can always leave and never come back. Is this what you want?"

"No, sir." I stood up and saluted him, which only got him to stop frowning. "I apologize for not responding."

"That's better. I'd like to talk privately with you later on. Now have a seat."

"Yes, sir."

I sat down in a my chair, which was next to Dan, who was eating that ugly peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Spectra pulled down the white screen and turned on the projector. "This is now an official matter that the _entire_ DATA has been called to look at. Not only is Zenoheld dead, but also many other local politicians and authority figures. Anyone see a pattern here?"

"A serial killer!" Jake suggested.

"No, a serial _sniper_." Baron edited.

Dan leaned over to me and whispered, "Or just a long-distance serial kill-"

"Dan! What are you-"

"Kazami!" Spectra yelled. "First you miss role call, now you interrupt my briefing. We definitely need to have a talk after this."

"Sorry, sir." I apologized. I was in no mood to listen to Dan's jokes.

Spectra continued talking and brought up the next slide, which was a map with a red circular blob outlining part of the area with the area inside shaded salmon. "This small area is where the sniper first started. It wasn't major enough for us to get involved yet. This next slide shows the sniper's progress over one month with the addition of the orange outline and shading. Now, this yellow represents another month, and the green represents as of one week ago.

"As you can see, we have a professional at work, I don't think this guy's working alone. Therefore, DATA must also _not_ work alone. Jake, Baron, and Ren will be handing out those stacks of papers of our most current details of this sniper and his actions plus motives. And since the section hasn't even fully approved of this yet..."

I stared at the color-coded map on the screen and didn't catch what Spectra last said. If this sniper is really expanding his targets to the entire city of Bayview, then we're all in trouble. Although the only victims so far were rich people of business, politics, and so on, this sniper's prey was bound to expand. Light Hope Orphanage was shaded green on the map. I couldn't ignore that.

Neither could I ignore that most of the people who donated so much to keep that place going are now _dead_. I didn't apply for DATA for no reason.

"Shun, we need to talk now." Spectra urged.

I stood up and walked out to the hall with him. "I apologize for my ignorant behavior during the briefing and-"

"I'm not here to listen to you apologize. Now what's bothering you? You never zone out during role call or scold Dan in public _during_ a briefing."

I couldn't take my eyes off that map, and Spectra noticed. "Light Hope Orphanage is under attack according to the map. I request to resign from this case. I can't do this."

I have no idea how I ended up saying something that contradicted my reasons for being here.

"That's it? Shun, that's why you're in DATA in the first place. You saw the list of victims. At least two-third of those people poured money into to support Light Hope and other similar facilities. The fact that this sniper only targets this specific group of people should be added to the profile."

Spectra was going to enter the room again but walked back out. "Listen. I know you care for that place very much, but it's not just Light Hope at risk. Other places and people are, too. If you really want to step out, you can do that, and I'll give you other work to do. You want that?"

Spectra had a point, but I was still worried sick. "How about if I think about it?"

"Good choice. Sleep on it and decide. Meanwhile, you should take a look at the data our higher agents gathered. Go over it and then give me an answer. You have the entire day to do so before tomorrow's more _detailed _briefing." He handed me some sheets of papers, patted my shoulder, and walked inside.

I read the profile paper, which stated the possibility of more than one sniper since traces of long red and short silver hair from _not_ the guests were found. Something about this red hair appealed to me very much, but I don't know why.

One day's time, and it was only ten-forty. I had a lot of time left to spend, but I urgently needed to go to this one place right now.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Alice's POV**

"Suppressor, scope, and—Alice, where's the trigger?"

"I'm finding a replacement for it now."

That was the rifle in which I broke the trigger of this morning. Grandfather had no objections to Ace and Mira present in the laboratory. In fact, he _wanted _them to come here, but Mira answered the phone this morning, and he didn't like telling other people this stuff. Ace was an orphan, like me, who was adopted by one of Grandfather's understudies. Mira was the the natural-born daughter of one of Grandfather's assistants. All three of us were also lab techs _only_ and worked with Grandfather and his crew here.

"No need," he replied. "Ace, Mira, you see this broken trigger? Find a replacement for me in the junk boxes somewhere."

"Will do, Doc."

Letting two of my my closest friends make up for something I did wrong really stirred up my guilty conscience. "You did that on purpose, did you?"

"'On purpose' would seem too harsh. What I'm going to ask you now is something that they shouldn't know about." He took a seat and asked me to do so, too. "Did you shoot him?" he whispered.

I knew what he wanted to know. "No, I didn't."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded but the shook my head. "Actually, no, I _couldn't_. I had the gun in my hands, but then Ren snatched it from me, fired at _him_, and left. I _did_ shoot the note onto the wall, though."

"No wonder you had more GSR on your hands. You were the last to operate the gun. Why didn't you shoot?"

"I...I saw _him_ donate a $500,000 check to St. Kristen's Children Hospital and just froze at the thought. I should've shot him earlier so that St. Kristen's would've have that check and ended up in that money laundering scam. Why did I do that?"

"Oh, Alice. That's not your fault. I know how much you miss that place." Grandfather placed the broken rifle on the table and hugged me. "Did you see the news report this morning?"

"About Zenoheld's death? Yes."

"No, the one after. The money laundering?"

"I saw that, too. That's how I found out about St. Kristen's being scammed."

"Then you should know that by doing what Ren is the only way we can prevent future scams. You don't want what happened to _her_ to happened again, don't you?"

I knew exactly what Grandfather was talking about. I may be his adopted granddaughter and his most reliable and trusted person, but I never was 'active' enough. Ren is an agent of IATA—International Anti-Terrorism Agency—who's here to complete his engineering class requirements, and I envy him very much. The way Grandfather is convincing me to take serious action isn't the best, especially with the painful pasts, but they're the only way of maintaining my sanity in working undercover like this.

What a huge secret this is.

"Oh, I think I'm late." Grandfather stood up and put his hands around his mouth to shout. "Everyone! May I have your attention?"

He turned on the TV and went straight to the news channel. Different from the one I watched, though. "Right on time. I may have given each of you a list on which dangerous political criminals are lurking around, but we're going beyond that. Do you see what's being reported on the news? Those names floating across the screen are places, ninety-nine percent non-profit organizations, that are being scammed and cheating in whatever way possible. The government can't control it, so it's up to us."

One last thing about him: Grandfather only allowed certain IATA agents, assistants, and other excused people to know about the kill list he has, including Ren, Me, Ace, Mira, couple others.

Few minutes later, a different set of names floated across the screen. "And _these_ are the people who scammed and cheated those places, ninety-nine greedy and rich people. Is there a difference between _them_ and those people on the list I gave you all?"

"None!" everyone replied. What is Grandfather trying to do?

"There you have it. The process of eliminating these people must be done as clean as possible. I even heard that some of them willed their money to some NPO's but changed their wills last minute. Irrelevant, but worth thinking."

_Now _I know what Grandfather wanted. He left the TV on and walked back to our table. "Alice, I'm going to need your help with this."

"Can't you let your understudies handle the con men?"

He shook his head. "No. I have a special case for _you_. There's this person working for the police, I assume, who's been very serious about protecting all these 'con men,' as you say. He's not a criminal or a scammer at all, but his presence is a threat. This is a rough but the best picture I have of him."

Grandfather handed me a what looked like a picture directly taken from security footage. "Grandfather, the only thing distinctive I can see is the black hair and weird flyaway hair. And why kill him if he's not on your kill list? This guy's innocent."

"Good thing you noticed. Not many people have them. Whether or not he's innocent isn't up to you or me to decide. He's already been marked. You know what to do." He hugged my for a second time. "Why don't you take a break for the day? I'll left everyone else handle the other missions so you can place your full focus on this."

"Thanks, Grandfather."

I find it odd that Grandfather would suddenly tell me to kill a policeman with black hair and flyaway tufts. It was so random, yet I felt it coming somehow. Deja vu, perhaps? Now that he mentioned it, I could use the break. There's this place that I really needed to go if I _really _was to find and kill this guy.

* * *

**Shun, Dan, Ace, and Alice are all orphans but legal adults by now. There's a reason why I made them orphans, especially Shun and Alice. The donation may be US dollars, but I converted Vietnam currency and modified some stuff. ****DATA = D**omestic** A**nti-**T**errorism** A**gency**. IATA = I**nternational **ATA. Think of those as FBI, CIA, whatever.**

**Shun and Dan work for the government's second-elite anti-crime department, and Shun will do anything to protect that orphanage. After all, the orphanage and other places receive donations from a lot of rich philanthropists (i.e. Zenoheld), but with a sniper killing them off one by one, it _is_ kind of scary.**** Alice is Dr. G.'s adopted granddaughter, and she'll do anything to protect that hospital from being conned, scammed, and cheated. Places like that are already suffering enough from lack of funding, and these scams literally define the meaning of overboard. So much for philanthropy.**

**Confusing, isn't it? They contradict each other, and Shun and Alice have similar yet complicated motives. Both situations may seem unrelated, but this is a POV story, and you guys would know more than they do. Each dilemma will entwine the other at some point somehow. That's why I have POVs of both sides.**

**This fanfic will be my second priority before Seeing Green. Don't forget to**** review!**


	2. Change of Mind to Set Aside

**Reviews.**

**RosesOfTruth:** By default that Alice and Shun are opposing sides, but the 'organizations' they belong to, namely DATA and IATA, are really sister agencies but have a long, complicated history.

**shining stardust:** Shun and Alice will meet pretty soon, but I have to warn you that they won't see each other for long duration.

**InnocentDiamond:** Well, no one told me, so I assume it's Chinese. You can forget about Zenoheld. I didn't want to make complicated organization names, and IATA was a complete mess compared to DATA. POVs or third person; it's your personal decision.

**MagicxMusicxMelody:** Pretty much all appealing handwriting is intimidating. For the purpose of the story, no, Shiori and Shun aren't biologically related. Orphanages play a big role. No one will _die_ yet until couple more chapters.

**strikedeathkd53019:** I don't mean to spoil, but Alice and Shun's paths cross a little bit but are separated because of an interruption. Technically, they are on opposite sides, but once their paths cross completely, then it turns the tide a bit.

**I know at sometime, I probably said that I'll update this, but it's been...THREE months since Chapter 1. At least I've been updating Stolen Diva, but that's getting nowhere yet, either!**

**Teachers' Day is coming up in two weeks, and my friends an I have already planned what to bring to so many different parties. I have to make so many different cards, all decorated differently with different poems inside that it's become tedious. Sure, people plan a week before, but when you have so many teachers this year because of so many classes and so many former teachers, one week isn't going to cover it all.**

**Both Shun and Alice were given an assignment by their superiors (Spectra/Dr. G. respectively) to find/kill their target, but are hesitant and have doubts. The news is romanticizing and overexaggerating the degree of these loose sniper attacks. I don't own Bakugan or any of those crime dramas.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Change of Mind to Set Aside**

**-x-**

**No one's POV**

Noon was considered the mini rush hour of the day since many but not all people at work left their workplaces as this time of day to get or buy lunch. Regular rush hour was self-explanatory. That was when people went to and got off from work.

Shun was one of those people who decided to eat lunch outside of the DATA cafeteria today.

And Alice wanted to have lunch with an old acquaintance outside of her Grandfather's laboratory.

Majority of people preferred to walk to nearby restaurants or stores to quickly order a sandwich plus drink or couple boxes of take-outs and quickly go back to work. Nowadays, people couldn't risk wasting another minute because not finishing their tasks at hand means they won't get paid. Simply the effects money had on people.

And because of the foot traffic, all the crosswalks were so occupied that pickpockets could simply steal stuff without being noticed.

Shun walked from local DATA building down the sidewalk across a couple streets with stop signs until he reached one that had traffic lights and waited on the curb. A lot of people crowded around him and partially blocked his vision of the opposite light.

_I hope Kudou-san's doing alright. She must be frightened to death._

Alice only had to walk out the main gate of the laboratory to the main street, but the light changed immediately, so she couldn't cross the street. She wasn't in a hurry, so it didn't matter.

_Haven't paid them my respects in a long time. Please don't get mad at me, Doctor._

Once the light changed again, people from both sides descended the curb to cross the street. There was bound to be someone who couldn't resist putting there hands into other people's pockets looking for stuff. The countdown timer started, and everyone walked faster.

Not Shun or Alice, though.

Halfway in the street, Shun noticed a girl with long, curly red hair, and Alice noticed a boy with black hair and a flyaway both stopped walking after passing each other by a step and stared at each other from the corners of their right eyes for a straight five seconds, slightly turning their heads.

_Long red hair._

_Black flyaway tuft._

The counting down of the last five seconds of the walk light broke their trance, and the two continued crossing the street.

_Why is that the moment I exit the DATA building after reading Interpol's reports of the snipers to get lunch, I see a girl with luscious red curls?,_ he thought.

_Why is it that I see a guy with the exact hair style, color, flyaway tuft as the guy in the surveillance photo the moment I leave the laboratory?, _she thought.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Shun's POV**

"You guys share, okay? No arguing."

I handed the kids a box of gummy candies, and they tore it apart immediately. On my way out to the door, Kudou-san appeared at the door with a tray of juice and cookies while fixing the bun she tied her faded brown hair into. "Shun! What brings you here this early? Would you like some-"

She tripped on the rug edge, but I caught her and the food in time. "Inchou! I thought you were getting better." I set the tray down and walked her over to the arts and crafts table. "Take it easy. You really need a full or part time assistants."

"I'm fine. You always come by to check on the kids, right? That's good enough for me." She handed me a cup of juice, and I gladly accepted it. "You don't always come right after lunch. What's up?"

"Actually, I just came back from a meeting with DATA, and they want everyone, from leveled agents to trainees, to participate, but I don't want to though."

She held my my hand gently as I tightly clenched my cup of juice. "Shun, I've watched you grow up for about ten years, and seeing you get accepted into DATA at only _twelve _years old was the best thing ever in my life. You have the potential. I'm sure it's nothing that you can't handle."

"But-"

'No 'but's. Shun Kazami, you will work on this case with Dan and everyone else in DATA, whatever it's about." She took a deep breath, crossed her left leg over right, and locked her hands around her left knee. "Now what's it about? I've got all day to listen to you."

I sighed. "Fine. I'll explain. DATA wants us to hint down a sniper whose—as the news interprets it—'comfort zone' is gradually expanding to eventually here and beyond. That's not good. Not only that, but he or she is cutting off your source of non-government funding and donations, and with your arthritis-"

"You worry too much." Kudou-san interrupted, giving me a gentle punch in the arm. "So meticulous...just like your foster mother. If you think about me, my health, and the kids every time Special Agent Phantom brings up the topic, then don't. _Just_ think of the kids."

"Inchou...are you serious?"

"What other way to repay me and your foster mother for the years of care is there?"

"You _do_ have a point." I checked the clock, which read 1:52. "Go to go, Inchou. I appreciate-"

"Shun, wait. Remember that girl who you used to play with you all the time because everyone disliked her for her disabilities?"

"Kind of." Honestly, I didn't remember anyone else in the orphanage other than Dan because we have the same occupation. I didn't care about anything else. "She left early, didn't she?"

"Exactly. Poor girl. My superiors never told me where they transferred her to. For sure, no one adopted her yet at that time yet. She was your first love, wasn't she?"

_Now_ this conversation was getting out of hand. I haven't even talked about that kind of love ever since I got my job, mainly because there was no time for it. "Why are you telling me this?"

A playful smile appeared on Kudou-san's face, something I find odd in an almost-forty woman. "You're going to have to get married someday. You should think about it now."

"Maybe some other time." I doubt I was going to get married before thirty, given the fact I worked a high busy—quite ironic to me—and secretive job. "Thanks for the advice. Inchou. Take care of yourself."

I left the other bag of candy on the table and walked to the front entrance. "Shun, one last thing?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Shiori-san's death anniversary is coming soon."

Shiori...my foster mother, whom I wished was my biological mother. She treated me so well like I _was _her birth child. How could I have forgotten? This gave me reason for me to work on this case. "Thanks for reminding me."

"No problem."

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Alice****'****s POV**

"...and that's all I have to say."

Footsteps approached me, but I knelt down in my place, eyes closed and hands together.

"It's been sixteen years." the person said.

"I know."

I stood up and lit another red candle on the wooden table and placed down a couple of coins. Sixteen candles flickered gracefully in front of me and the picture leaned against the wall. "Not many people came by to visit her anymore," he said again. "I hate to say it, but it's like she's been forgotten over the years."

"Don't say that, Dr. Green. At least I still remember Chan, no matter how ugly her story was. How are you holding up with the money?"

"Very well." He scratched head of salt and pepper hair and looked to the side. "Come outside with me. I'm unoccupied right now."

I followed Dr. Green outside to the gardens, where many children, all with disabilities, were having a happy time. Thinking about how Chan passed away terribly few years ago made me feel heavy, and I could use the fresh air.

"Alice, thanks for telling me to _not_ deposit that 'check.'" Dr. Green explained. "I had an expert friend examine it, and turns out that it was a complicated check that required so many steps to get the money. How did you know?"

I smiled childishly, and I knew Dr. Green already suspected something when he crossed his arms. After all, he was the one who treated me of my polio. "_I_ did it...yet I'm scared to do it again."

"Do what?"

"I planned every part of Zenoheld's death at that dinner, but my associate pulled the trigger. Now Grandfather wants me to kill a police officer who he says is involved in some dirty work." All of a sudden, I heated up in panic. "This is a man of the law! I can't just-"

Dr. Green stopped walking and pushed his glasses up, not even looking at me. "What's the benefit?"

"Well...if he dies, _some_ part of the law will be normal again. That's what Grandfather makes it sound like, but I understand it myself, too."

"Then there's your answer."

Now I stopped walking and stared at Dr. Green with my jaw dropped. "For real?!"

As trained marksman, I wanted to complete the task now and be done with it. But hearing a _doctor_—one who saves lives—tell me to take the life of another was unbelievable.

"Have you forgotten how and why Chan died? Because some 'philanthropist' gave us a bad check—similar to the one I recently received—and his lawyer won the case for him. Chan died because we couldn't fund the treatment."

"And when we _did _find better evidence, it was already too late because Chan already died, and we double jeopardy." I fell down to the ground, breathing heavily of anger. "How could they?!"

"Come on, Alice. Now's not the time to blame yourself." Dr. Green was 's done is done. The first friend I made after transferring here years ago is gone. I can't change the past.

But I _can_ change the future.

"Bring it on, then."

"That's my girl."

I stood up and hugged him. Dr. Green was like a second father to me...or a first, since my foster parents later came to the hospital and adopted me. Now I live with Grandfather. This dilemma I had wasn't even something worth questioning, I realized.

"Do you recall the young boy who visited you in the hospital back then?"

"I think so." Yes, this is a children's hospital, and by far, I was the only patient who stayed the longest duration and watched people come and go. "Forgot his name, though. What's up?"

"Not much." He pointed to a boy and a wheelchaired girl by the fountain. "Looking at them reminds me of you."

That's true. No one else other than that young boy and hospital staff visited me. I sniffed and asked, "Do you mind if I spend a few minutes with the children?"

"Of course I don't. I think everyone who's not standing has polio. You should share your survival story to them."

I smiled and smacked my forehead. "_That_ story. I will. They could use the motivation."

"And your adopted parents could use the visit."

I stopped. "Their death anniversary isn't until the end of the year, Doctor."

"I know, but in a couple days will be their 16th anniversary of adopting you."

I was speechless.

"I'm just saying..."

He didn't have to say anything else. "I know what to do."

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Shun's POV**

"Glad to hear you changed your mind, but you still haven't gone over that copy of data report though."

"I'll do that now."

Spectra definitely was happy to hear that I changed my mind, but something about this entire mission was irking me. Does DATA _really_ need the entire department to work on this case? Just because a guy who donated money to my former orphanage got shot doesn't mean it has to involve DATA already. Of course, I'm still an intern and can't do anything.

"Why the long face, man? How was lunch?" Dan walked by eating a sandwich, which reminded me of the sandwich this morning. "You stop by Kudou-san's place today?"

"How'd you know?"

"Come on. You've been worry about that place since this morning. What did she talk to you about?"

I sighed and counted my fingers. "First we talked about her medical problems. Then I kind of filled her in on our case. Lastly, after urging me to accept this case, suddenly talked about my future marriage plans."

"I get that a lot." I looked up at Dan, who was choking with laughter. "More like the girls are always after me."

"With negative comments." I muttered. "Even weirder was about some girl who use to stop by and-"

"Girl? You mean that redhead?"

"Redhead? You know her? Wait, didn't we find red hairs at the scene of the crime."

"Dude, I used to play matchmaker all the time back then and would've succeeded if she didn't leave. I forgot what happened to her now." He then looked at the section of his paper that listed the evidence. "Now you're pulling strings, man. Why does everything we talk about always have to do the case? You're thinking too much."

"Shut up." So Kudou-san _wasn't_ lying or making stuff up. Maybe I was thinking too much on the red hair. "She left? When?"

"All I know is that they transferred her to somewhere else. Not long after, Spectra's superiors came by, saw us, and recruited us. You've never been around a female peer in a long time."

_That_...was sadly true.

"Don't worry, man. I'll take you out for karaoke tonight so you can meet some-"

"Dan, I'm not doing that with an important task at hand. In fact, I should never have brought up this topic in the first place." I waved my hands and the papers in his face to express my irritation.

"Fine, I'm sorry. How about this? I-"

"No more propositions, Dan. I'm not nego-"

"Oh come on! Just because the orphanage is 'under attack' doesn't mean it's the only that has to be on your mind!" What is he aiming for? That made no sense. "Listen to me. Jake's inviting us all for dinner because of that successful drug trafficking case. You might as well come. Spectra approves and is also coming."

_Spectra _approves. Like he wouldn't. "Fine! I'm going. As long as it's free, I'm going. And while eating, we can discuss this case so we're not _wasting time_." I hope he noticed that long emphasis.

"Okay, we shall do that tonight. I'll tell him that you're going. It's at seven at Fukushia Utahime House. Be there or be square." He took an elevator upstairs to who-knows-where.

Dan's right. I need a break, even though I haven't even started anything. And as for what Kudou-san said, should I really get a date at a time like this? Maybe a walk to the coffee shop should refresh my mind.

That reminds me. I saw a redhead girl this morning on my way to the orphanage.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**Alice****'****s POV**

This wasn't the first time I was uncertain about Grandfather's decisions but eventually agreed with them.

"Back from lunch, I see?" He was refining blueprints to produce sleeker, more effective firearms, which we already had a _lot_ of.

"Yeah. Stopped by Dr. Green's today."

"What did he say?"

"Not much. We talked about Chan and the hospital, and then he gave me an inspirational lecture. I'm still a little shaken about when Ren pulled the trigger for me, but I'm confident about it now. Where's the picture of the guy you want me to kill?"

"Pinned on the wall. Take it easy, sweetie. I'm not expecting immediate results."

"I will. I have lots of plans. Mira, Ace, over here!"

They heard me call them and walked over from the microscope tables, and I led them to the backyard. "What's with the rush, Alice?" Mira asked.

"I think we should start finding the guy that's in the blurry surveillance photo. I visited my childhood doctor a while ago, and he told me some very inspirational things. Now, I need _you_ to examine this photo for me."

Ace and Mira both took the photo out of my hands and looked at it. Seeing them work in sync so well reminded me of what Dr. Green pointed to me today of the boy and the wheelchaired girl. "Mira, haven't we seen this guy before during our daily afternoon tea sessions?"

"Now that you mention it, I think actually waited in line to get coffee or latte with him somewhere, and his uniform back then was _not_ as plain as this."

"What uniform?"

Mira thought a moment and answered me, "I remember seeing a guy like this getting coffee at the same coffee shop block where I go. As for the uniform, his outfit was way more sophisticated than this."

"Grandfather said he's probably a policeman. You think that's what his uniform is for?"

"I don't know."

I sighed and paced around the patio table. "Oh! I think I saw a guy who looked like that this morning on my way to the hospital. Maybe he works or lives around here."

"You're certainly not making this a serious or secretive task, Alice." Ace commented.

"Of course I'm not. After a long talk with Dr. Green about Chan, my upcoming adoption anniversary, and a pair of kids, I realize that taking on this task isn't just benefiting _us_. It's benefiting _everyone_." After a while, I realized they weren't even listening to me. I guess this is where that "two's company and three's a crowd" phrase comes in. "I guess you heard nothing."

"Huh? Oh, sorry Alice." Mira apologized. "Truth be told, you really should get a boyfriend because all this underground work is making you a recluse."

"I can't even get a boyfriend if I can't even accomplish a single mission single-handedly. Look at _you_. The only reason why you two are a perfect pair in this 'business' because _both_ of you are in this 'business.' Everyone views me differently because I'm the 'doctor's adopted granddaughter.' Why am I even ranting?"

"Go out and have fun." was all Ace said.

"Fine. I'll get out. Keep on working on that photo for me. I'm going somewhere, and don't call me before eight o'clock. I will kill you."

As if they'll really listen.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

**No one's POV**

Late at night in Entertainment District Central. The one place where everyone hanged out and partied everyday and night like it was a weekend.

After a delicious but tedious dinner with Jake and the others, Shun insisted on going home by himself. Actually, he left early because no one wanted to talk about the sniper shootings anymore—typical appetite ruiner—and thus lost interest in staying any longer. Shun was one of the few exceptions of people in the world that _really_ wanted to get work done and not waste a single second.

On the other hand, Alice spent her entire afternoon and most of the evening plus night by herself, walking around town for fun places to go to and eat dinner by herself. She walked down the streets of Bayview's entertainment district with a hot dog her hands. Tonight's street lights were just too pretty and beautiful to not been seen tonight.

Shun pressed the button on the streetlight and waited for the light to change. _Was it selfish of me to just leave them all behind because I wasn't interested? I probably shouldn't do that next time, but this case that Spectra assigned us won't solve itself._ He leaned against the pole and watched the cars and their monochrome red and yellow headlights sped by.

Alice elbowed the button on the other side of the crosswalk and threw the wax paper away in the trash can behind her. _I hope Grandfather isn't mad at me for not telling him I was leaving for the rest of the day, and Ace and Mira are too occupied with each other to care about me._

The lights changed, and they both step down from the curb to cross the street. Building lights were pretty, but car lights were so blinding, like sun broken up into pieces and decided to annoy you all night.

And at that very moment, Shun and Alice saw each other again.

_That l__ong red hair.__.._

_Black flyaway tuft__ again..._

It was the exact same thing they both thought this morning: the possibility that the person in front of them was the person they were each assigned to look for.

"Watch out!"

Suddenly, a car drove drove by perpendicular to their walking direction, and Shun and Alice both pushed each other a few steps back. The vehicle sped through the red light and caused a chain-reaction traffic jam of forward-moving cars and turning cars.

And with both of their phones ringing and vibrating, they both knew now's not the time to be thinking about catching a sniper or killing a target.

It'll have to wait.

* * *

**I will put in more romance in the later chapters because I really want Shun and Alice's pasts to be brought back. It's very crucial, you know. It completely affects their decisions, actions, and choices. Pretty self explanatory of what Chapter 3 will talk about, is it? People will be like, "It's about time they actually met!" I'm aware of that and will take action soon.**

**That light-speeding car actually plays an important role in the next chapter or so. For one thing, I _guarantee_ that Alice and Shun will finally talk to each other, as in a _full_ conversation. But there are other parts to that in which I need to fix, so don't expect anything soon.**

**I _might_ update Seeing Green—yeah, not Stolen Diva—at the end of the month _after_ Teachers' Day _if_ I can. Review for now!**


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